The Best Two Minutes my Fitbit Ionic Gives Me

I recently got a Fitbit Ionic and am loving it. It's been a critical part of the self-tracking system I have setup (more on that on a future post) and love the fact that I can buy a Starbucks with it, track my steps, get texts and little reminders that I need to get up and move around.

One of the features that few people talk about is their Relax app. It's simple but it's helpful.

It literally just takes two minutes out of your day to complete.

You start off by just sitting still and relaxing while the Fitbit figures out your breathing cadence. Then it has you take deep breaths based on a circle on the display that expands and contracts. As the circle gets larger, you inhale. As it shrinks, you exhale. The goal is to follow the rhythm of the circle for the duration of the exercise while making the background color turn green. If it turns green, your breathing is at a good pattern.

That's it.

That simple.

Why is it the best two minutes Fitbit gives me?

If you're having a stressful day, things feel overwhelming or stuff just feels like it's piling on, this is a great app to get out. It's only two minutes, which is less than the amount of time most of us would rather use to procrastinate by surfing Instagram. It's amazing how taking time to just breathe calms the nerves.

Just two minutes. The app even gives you what your starting heart rate is and what your post-breathing exercise heart rate is. It's amazing how much slower it gets.

A slower heart rate and calmer breathing has a ripple effect on everything you do. I feel like I think a little more clearly, have a little more patience and am less likely to draft that email I may regret later.